Embracing the inescapable joys of sound.

Monster Magnet – Mastermind – Review

As of yet, there are no signs of letting up. Monster Magnet smash their 20 year milestone in activity, with the impressive Mastermind, their eighth studio effort to date.

What better way to begin an album than with the viscous sleaze guitar of Hallucination Bomb, joined by a sludgy bass line that sounds like it’s intoxicated with substances banned in most countries.

Dave Wyndorf has headed Monster Magnet since the beginning of their existence, and is now the only original member, like Dave Brock and Hawkwind in that respect.

Speaking of which, there’s some Hawkwind influence in here big time, with Bored With Sorcery and Perish In Fire being Monster Magnet’s ultimate bow to the masters of Space Rock with their effective power chord riffs from Ed Mundell and Phil Caivano. That’s not to say that they are simply stealing from Hawkwind.

The Titan Who Cried Like A Baby and Time Machine confirm that Monster Magnet have their own quirky taints of diversity, whilst continuing their original stoner driven sound. Importantly for the New Jersey band, they have a lead singer that can chameleon his voice from the low, crystal clear vocalisations to the hard rocking, whisky soaked rasps to suit this divergence.

There may be one or two dud tracks that don’t really rouse anything, with the simple and repetitive 100 Million Miles and final track All Outta Nothing. However, in fairness to Monster Magnet there’s variety across the board, allowing this album to be a truly pleasurable listen.